Situation 2 Conventional Presumption Rebuttal — Ethical Compliance
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/128#Situation_2_Conventional_Presumption_Rebuttal_—_Ethical_Compliance
Properties
Instance of
ConventionalAddress-LicensureInferenceandRebuttalObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ConventionalAddress-LicensureInferenceandRebuttalObligation
Applied to
Engineer A Situation 2 Multi-Jurisdiction Business Card Presenter
Balancing with
PE Title Omission of Licensure Jurisdiction Disclosure Obligation
Concrete expression
Engineer A's Situation 2 card lists a State E address but affirmatively identifies the states of actual licensure (B, C, D), successfully rebutting the conventional presumption and satisfying the honesty obligation
Confidence
0.93
Importance
high
Interpretation
By affirmatively listing licensure states, the engineer provides recipients with the information needed to understand that the PE designation does not extend to State E, thereby preventing the misleading impression that would otherwise arise from the address-licensure convention
Invoked by
NSPE Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
No tension — the engineer's affirmative disclosure satisfies both the letter and spirit of the honesty obligation
Source Evidence
Source text
Under the NSPE Code of Ethics, Engineer A's actions are truthful and not deceptive.
Text references
In Situation (2), Engineer A identifies his residence as State E, the state in which he is attending the business meeting, and also identifies the states in which he is licensed.
The clear representation is that Engineer A is not licensed in State E even though his business address is there.
Under the NSPE Code of Ethics, Engineer A's actions are truthful and not deceptive.
a conventional assumption prevails; namely, that the engineer whose name and 'P.E.' designation appears on a business card is licensed in the state indicated by the physical address on the card
TTL
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/128#Situation_2_Conventional_Presumption_Rebuttal_—_Ethical_Compliance> a proeth:ConventionalAddress-LicensureInferenceandRebuttalObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Situation 2 Conventional Presumption Rebuttal — Ethical Compliance" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A Situation 2 Multi-Jurisdiction Business Card Presenter" ;
proeth:balancingwith "PE Title Omission of Licensure Jurisdiction Disclosure Obligation" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's Situation 2 card lists a State E address but affirmatively identifies the states of actual licensure (B, C, D), successfully rebutting the conventional presumption and satisfying the honesty obligation" ;
proeth:confidence "0.93" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "128" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T22:02:21.234939+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "128" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T22:02:21.234939+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "By affirmatively listing licensure states, the engineer provides recipients with the information needed to understand that the PE designation does not extend to State E, thereby preventing the misleading impression that would otherwise arise from the address-licensure convention" ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Conventional Address-Licensure Inference and Rebuttal Obligation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Under the NSPE Code of Ethics, Engineer A's actions are truthful and not deceptive." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "No tension — the engineer's affirmative disclosure satisfies both the letter and spirit of the honesty obligation" ;
proeth:textreferences "In Situation (2), Engineer A identifies his residence as State E, the state in which he is attending the business meeting, and also identifies the states in which he is licensed.",
"The clear representation is that Engineer A is not licensed in State E even though his business address is there.",
"Under the NSPE Code of Ethics, Engineer A's actions are truthful and not deceptive.",
"a conventional assumption prevails; namely, that the engineer whose name and 'P.E.' designation appears on a business card is licensed in the state indicated by the physical address on the card" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 128 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T22:14:48.658763"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 128 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
128
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-28T22:02:21.234939+00:00
First case
128
Generated
2026-02-28T22:02:21.234939+00:00
Attributed to
Case 128 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T22:14:48.658763
Generated by
ProEthica Case 128 Extraction